The purchase of local retailer Hilo Hattie by a California-based company that owns the Hawai'i franchise rights to Fantastic Sams hair salons has been completed.

Terms of the transaction, announced in May as a pending deal, were not disclosed.

RSM EquiCo Capital Markets LLC, a unit of H&R Block Inc. that said it advised Hilo Hattie on the transaction, announced the completion of the sale yesterday.

Hilo Hattie representatives, including new company President John Scott, could not be reached for further comment yesterday.

Hilo Hattie is one of the state's largest retailers of Hawai'i fashions and gifts. The company was founded in 1963 on Kaua'i by Jim Romig, who began the business as Kaluna Hawaii Sportswear and later purchased a Hilo company that gave him the rights to the Hilo Hattie name, tied to Island entertainer Clarissa Haili.

Romig sold the business to a private investor group led by Ted Nelson, doing business as TOC Inc. Nelson, through San Diego-based FS Hawaii Inc., owns franchise rights to Fantastic Sams salons in Hawai'i and California.

In recent years, Hilo Hattie has experienced challenges that led to downsized operations, including the closing of several Mainland stores. In 2006, the company outsourced many production functions that previously were handled at its Iwilei factory.

The company today employs about 200 workers and operates seven stores in Hawai'i and two in California. Hilo Hattie also plans to open a new flagship store at Royal Hawaiian Center in Waikiki that would replace the current flagship location in Iwilei, where many visitors are bused from Waikiki.

Nelson previously said plans for the Waikiki store would proceed. The store was last slated to open in November after encountering delays.